About Parrots: A Guide for Children

About... A Guide for Children

by Cathryn Sill

A beautiful, informative first glance at the world of parrots.

In this addition to the acclaimed About... series, author and educator Cathryn Sill uses simple, easy-to-understand language to teach children what parrots are, what they do, and how they live.

With beautifully detailed, realistic paintings, noted wildlife illustrator John Sill introduces readers to the diverse population of parrots—from the colorful blue lorikeets of the Polynesian Islands to the rosy-faced lovebirds of southwestern Africa. An afterword provides more details for further exploration.

Genres: Birds, Picture Books, Animals, Nonfiction, Childrens, Nature

32 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

Cathryn Sill, a graduate of Western Carolina University, was an elementary school teacher for thirty years. She lives in North Carolina.

When she was an elementary school teacher who loves nature. When she had trouble finding good natural history books for her kindergarten class, she decided to write them.

With her husband John as the illustrator, she has created two series of nonfiction books for children.

The ABOUT series is about different groups of animals and includes 16 books. She has just completed the eighth books in a series about habitats.

Reviews

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fabulous book by the Sills. I'm not sure what I can say about this one that I haven't said about previous books. I learned a lot about parrots, where and how they live, and why so many species are in danger. Each page has one or two sentences accompanied by a beautiful illustration. There is a section at the end of the book that gives more information about parrots in general as well as about each of the highlighted species. A great book for young bird lovers.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated, but some plates don't support the text, such as Plate 11 doesn't show a 'noisy flock.' The simple text will give them vague information, but the apparent audience will not be able to independently access the additional detailed information in the back. The concluding statement that "It is important to protect parrots and the place where they live." is also vague and has no apparent evidence given throughout.

[Noor Mahmood · Rating 4 out of 5]

About Parrots gives you information about all types of parrots and each illustration on the side of the picture gives you the name of the type of parrot that has been illustrated. Above the bird name is a plate number that takes you to the back of the book and the book gives you more information snd goes in-depth about the fact given on the page. The illustrations in the book are amazing and the information in the back of the book is a larger paragraph but it is written with vocabulary that a younger reader would be able to understand and comprehend.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think birds are such fascinating creatures and I like to read about them. I still read adult books but I find that children's books are especially enjoyable now since the pandemic as my concentration level as decreased quite a bit. Cathryn Sill is an excellent author of these books about birds and her husband John Sill is a wonderful illustrator.
I highly recommend all of her books that I have read.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Especially awesome because I love birds. I love the Sills.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is pretty and scientifically sound but geared for my classes age group. Recommended.

Q2021 book.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very basic. Nice artwork.

[Darin Raguse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiction Twin Text:
Judge, L. (2015). Good morning to me! New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Rationale:
About Parrots: A Guide for Children is an easy to read text with detailed watercolor illustrations featuring 18 species of parrots. More detailed text providing greater detail on each illustration is provided in the back pages of the book. I selected this text because it provides a comprehensive and engaging introduction to parrots for young children. I selected Good Morning to Me! because your readers can easily to the cast of family pets that each interact with Beatrix the parrot. This text provides a contrast to the non-fiction text by portraying a domesticated parrot that uses a loud voice to annoy the family cat. By the end of the story, Beatrix learns the benefits of using a calm demeanor and an indoor voice. Taken together, the texts can be used to help children learn both about parrots and the importance of remaining calm and less noisy when interacting with others.

Strategy Application:
Webbing was the strategy I selected for these texts as it would be extremely useful in helping students share information they learned about parrots after hearing both texts. I would start with the fiction book to generate enthusiasm for the topic and then move on to the Sill book which provides great detail in words and pictures regarding types of parrots, their habitats, the food they eat and why it is important that parrots be allowed to thrive where they live naturally.

Text Structures and Features of Non-Fiction Book:
- Afterword provides more detail to each illustration.
- Glossary
- Suggestions for further reading.
- List of resources that were helpful in developing the book.

[American Mensa · Rating 5 out of 5]

About Parrots is a colorful, educational guide for children. On each page, there is a gorgeous picture showing the bird in its natural habitat. Coupled with this is an interesting fact about parrots. At the end of the book, there is additional information about each type of bird. The book includes about eighteen different kinds of parrots, and a glossary highlighting some possibly unknown words.

My three-year-old cousin loved this book! We would both give the book five stars. He enjoyed all the colorful illustrations. This book is great for teaching young children about the different types of parrots. The included glossary is also a great way to learn some new vocabulary words! All in all, we would both recommend this book to anyone looking to learn about parrots!

Review by Emily T, age 15, Broward Mensa

[Pam Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

The text is very simplistic to share with younger children and illustrations support the text well. For example, plate 4 shows a parrot bringing a seed to its mouth with a foot and the text reads, "Parrots can bring food to their mouths with their feet." However, the information at the back of the book to add to each plate is written in a much higher level that would be difficult for younger children to understand or sustain interest in. The book does contain interesting and detailed information about parrots.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

About Parrots: A Guide for Children will fascinate children with the realistic lifelike colorful watercolors of 18 types on parrots around the world. Children will enjoy learning how different parrots are, some living in nests, others actually burrowing into cliffs and termite mounds. The simple yet very comprehensive sentence with an intricately detailed watercolor on the facing page, will strengthen their visual literacy skills, especially with a subject "parrots", that young readers and listeners are curious about. This is a title elementary libraries need in their collection.

[Selena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for early elementary non-fiction. This book is simple enough that child could read it alone and learn more about the types of parrots shown in the pictures and other facts from the back with their parents. Glossary is included.

[Miss Sarah]

I loved this nonfiction picture book about parrots. It's large enough for an audience but simple enough for toddlers and up. All about parrots, where they live, eat and sleep. Simple text is a winner.

[Marie Lejeune · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy this series for its rich information written in simple sentence format for younger children. Great mentor text too for how to write up research.

[Esutterlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

clear sentences. Beautiful Illustrations.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introductory information, great illustrations.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative! Great book for letter P day!